What Free Staters are and aren’t

Tuesday

Jan 15, 2013 at 3:15 AM

The two anonymous editorials that Foster’s has printed in the last week regarding the Free State Project reflect a lack of understanding that I’ve found only in the most closed minded individuals, left or right, here in New Hampshire.

In early 2001, Yale doctoral student Jason Sorens brainstormed about what might happen theoretically if libertarians got together in one place. In the ensuing 10 years, the reality far surpassed anything young Sorens could have imagined, and he’s said so many times. Quoting his original essay as gospel or blueprint misses the boat entirely, nobody but the most strident opposition are even reading it. Certainly the 13,500+ current signers to move aren’t, nor the 1,000+ who have moved over the last 8 years. Professor Sorens wrote a “10 years on” sequel essay refuting much of what he wrote back then. Theory: 20,000 activists. Reality: Far less are needed, and more effective than he imagined.

I’ve served in the legislature, and worked with folks like Reps. Cynthia Chase and Bill O’Brien. I’ve argued strongly with both of them, and yet each voted the same way as I did on some issues. Free Staters aren’t Republicans in sheep clothing, nor are they simply Libertarians. There are those who have been elected as Democrats, and those who refute all political actions and instead work on local voluntary replacements like private charities to help the homeless. Few listen to Rush Limbaugh, and as least as many listen to NHPR. It’s not a monolithic group, it’s a herd of cats, diverse and opinionated on all sides, even those elected. I participated in multiple House floor fights, where Free Staters were on both sides.

Fosters’ missed the real reason for sending Chase flowers: her attack, as in martial arts, only served to increase the very movement she opposes. The flowers’ card showed there were no hard feelings to the woman who moved from Rhode Island in 2006 herself. Chase sits next to Rep. Laura Jones, a Free Stater, who is one of the sweetest and most principled people in the House. Chase could take a few political lessons from Jones. The roughly dozen Free Staters, in 2011-2012, and in 2013-2014, aren’t influential of 400 Reps because of co-option, but because they make sound arguments and understand economics and liberty. They advocate for personal responsibility, small government, local control, and freedom. These are hardly radical concepts, but sadly, too often forgotten. Ask the most vocal opponents of the FSP, and even they will begrudgingly admit that Free Staters have been very effective, above average legislators who work hard, do their homework, and argue persuasively.

The big swing in NH from right to left was caused by national politics, mostly top of the ticket GOTV. 2014 will see many dozens of fresh voices on both side of the ticket with Free Stater connections, and many will win. Statewide, I’ve met local people who fundamentally agree with the Live Free attitude, small-l libertarians, making up the backbone of why New Hampshire lives free. Flatlanders moving to NH over the years, turning it into Northern Mass, are finally being counteracted, and locals are cheering, wanting more Free Staters to move, and they will. Free Staters will continue to be elected, as both fiscally conservative Democrats and socially liberal Republicans, because our two-party voting system forces them into those ill-fitting molds, just as New Hampshire itself isn’t a Red or a Blue State.

We’re all Free Staters now.

Seth Cohn

Canterbury

Editor’s note: Editorials are not anonymous. They are the voice of the newspaper, not an individual. As a result they are not signed.